Originally Posted by
RTDub
Neat idea, but if you maintain your chain, you don't run into these issues. Some things just don't need improving.
Originally Posted by
tjspiel
Chain maintenance is a huge pain in the winter. For that reason alone I'm interested. I've also busted a few chains. Hopefully a belt would start looking a little worse for wear before it breaks because there's no fixing that on the road unless you carry a spare.
Originally Posted by
531phile
I disagree. Chains are so 20th century. The only thing they got to figure out is to match the wide range of gears from traditional drivetrains and make it as light or lighter. If they could do that, I'll upgrade.
My opinion is this will follow a similar pattern as the move from chain drive on some motorcycles.
Racing motorcycles still use chains.
Liesure motorcycles commonly use chains, belts, and shaft drive.
Bicycles have much stricter weight considerations, so shaft drive is out.
In the city bike realm; I predict we will see a lot more belt driven bicycles on the road through attrition as people buy new bikes. (of course, cost of the belt drive system must be comparable.)
If I was buying a bike from the LBS for the city, I would be sold on the "set it and forget it" idea of maintenance on the drive train.
I like to work on my bikes, but I believe most do not. I'll probably run chains forever, my kids will probably have 30 speed belt-driven drivetrains available and they'll see a chain as old school.
Edit:
I hit the link and read the article after I wrote this. Now I'm a parrot!